What is toxic stress and how does it impact child development?
In times of stress, the body releases endorphins to combat stressors in the environment. There are three types of stress that cause different reactions within the body. Positive stress is beneficial to our survival because it helps response when we feel our safety is threatened. It increases our overall alertness. Tolerable stress causes a more severe reaction in the body. If dealt with properly using helpful coping mechanisms, it can also be harmless to the development of the brain.
Too much stress, however, can be harmful to us especially if it is for a prolonged period of time. This is known as toxic stress. When experienced, the hypothalamic-pituitary and adrenal hormone axis are over-activated. Cortisol increases in the blood level which causes inflammation and compromised immunity. This can lead to permanent changes in the development of the brain, to the brain’s plasticity, and other organs that depend on outputs from the brain. As a result, stress can impact functioning and quality of life in the future, having mental and physical effects.
Toxic stress can significantly impede young people’s cognitive development. When prolonged adversity is present in a child’s environment it can have long-term effects including “developmental delays, compounded by additional problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, substance abuse, and depression throughout life.” (Kaboom)
Connecting toxic stress and play disparity
Numerous preventative measures can be taken to avoid this health issue. One major focus is to create an environment that is safe, healthy, and toxic stress-free. While many initiatives aim to start with a change in the physical environment, it should also begin with sociocultural factors. This includes educating parents about toxic stress, teaching kids stress coping mechanisms as an extracurricular activity, and elucidating the disparities that exist in access to healthy environments.
Access to play is a vital function of childhood development. Its importance in cognitive, physical and social domains are often undermined or not well understood. Play is integral to building interpersonal skills, gaining independence, expanding imagination and creativity, learning to resolve conflict, achieving inclusion, and more.
According to Kaboom, a national nonprofit that provides grants to help build playgrounds, playing with caring adults and other children mitigates toxic stress. The idea is that by playing alongside children, parents can better understand and absorb the world from the kids’ view. This helps adults be supportive in their most at-need moments, while encouraging children to develop healthy coping mechanisms.
However, not everyone has direct access to play spaces to gain this sense of belonging, creating significant play inequity. An increasing health gap begins to form, between those who have access and those who do not, that follows children well into adulthood. Children begin to understand this disparity and that impacts how they perceive others and the world around them as they get older.
Minimizing the gap
Systemic racism and socioeconomic inequity largely diminish access to natural and playful environments. Lack of access to this fundamental component of healthy development leads to play deserts. These are geographical areas that lack spaces available, accessible, and safe for play. In Rochester, specifically, a large portion of recreational spaces are located in the wealthy, white-majority suburbs.
To minimize this gap, Kaboom supports communities in creating playspaces that fit their unique needs. In 2020, 540WMain and Barbara J. Burger iZone were awarded a grant from KABOOM! to co-create a play space in the 19th Ward that is accessible to all children.
Working alongside the Rotary Club of Rochester Southwest, Adlai E. Stevenson School No. 29, the 19th Ward Community Association, the Arnett Branch Library, the Arnett Block Association, the Southwest Neighborhood Service Center and more, we are on our way to designing a space of wonder, accessibility, and inclusion.
We need more community input!
The main focus of this project is to steward community wide input at each step of the design process, from lot selection to its use. Initial feedback from various community members, leaders, and organizations has indicated that a sensory garden would be of best use in the 19th ward.
A sensory garden is a “self-contained garden area that allows visitors to enjoy a wide variety of sensory experiences. Sensory gardens are designed to provide opportunities to stimulate the senses, both individually and in combination, in ways that users may not usually encounter.” (Wiki) Typically, these spaces are composed of natural elements such as flower beds, knolls, and water features.
This type of space allows play for all ages and abilities, while providing flexibility for change over time. Sensory gardens use diverse elements to stimulate all the senses so that everyone can feel welcomed. Research suggests that an environment including smells, colors, and shapes of the plants, in addition to less complex visual stimuli, may reduce the Central Nervous System arousal and reduce short and long-term stress.
While we hope to make one step towards improving community health by expanding play equity to foster healthy development for kids, we still have a long way to go to remedying play disparity and community health.
We are looking for more community input to help us design this inclusive playspace. We want to hear from you! Please fill out our survey that inquires about how you and your family see play. Have further input on the project? Please contact us at info540westmain@gmail.com.
Meet the Blog Writers!
Hiba Ahmed is a senior at the U of R majoring in Public Health and minoring in Brain and Cognitive Science. Hiba joined the project as a Public Health intern. In her role, she supported research of play disparity, toxic stress, and solutions to both.
Suzan Hoffman is an Experiential 5 student at the U of R. Suzan, iZone staff member, acts as a project lead for the Kaboom playspace. She loves spending time in nature and creating visual artwork.
